English Cricketer Comes Out

And there are still no competing American athletes who are out. How pathetic is that?%0D %0D "The England wicketkeeper Steven Davies has announced he is gay %E2%80%93 becoming the first serving professional cricketer to publicly out himself. %0D %0D The 24-year-old Surrey player said he had decided to make the announcement after months of personal conflict. %0D %0D In a frank and moving interview with Monday%E2%80%99s Daily Telegraph, Davies, who started his professional cricketing career with Worcestershire when he was 18, said he could no longer bear to lie about his sexuality. %0D %0D Davies, who told his family he was gay five years ago and has enjoyed their complete support, said it was a huge relief to finally come clean and be honest with the wider public. %0D %0D "I'm comfortable with who I am - and happy to say who I am in public," Davies said. %0D %0D And he said he hoped his decision would help other young gay people to have the confidence to follow in his footsteps. %0D %0D He explained: %E2%80%9CThis is the right time for me%E2%80%A6I feel it is right to be out in the open about my sexuality. If more people do it, the more acceptable it will become. That must be a good thing. %0D %0D "To speak out is a massive relief for me, but if I can just help one person to deal with their sexuality then that's all I care about." %0D %0D A former England under-19 captain, Davies, who made his international debut in 2009 during the Twenty20 in Trinidad, is widely tipped as a future star of the game. %0D %0D But he admitted hiding his sexuality has affected his relationships in the dressing room. %0D %0D He said he dreaded long international tours because he was forced to conceal an important part of his life from his team-mates. %0D %0D Davies decided to confide in his England colleagues after being called up for the recent Ashes tour to Australia. %0D %0D He said he received wonderful support from his team-mates, especially fellow wicketkeeper Matt Prior and captain, Andrew Strauss, and now looks forward to getting on with, what he hopes will be, a long and successful career at the highest level. %0D %0D Davies%E2%80%99s decision to out himself comes two years after Welsh rugby hero Gareth Thomas also went public about his homosexuality. %0D %0D The 36 year-old, who is currently playing for the Crusaders in Europe%E2%80%99s Super League, has voiced his support for Davies and said he admired his courage. %0D %0D He said: %E2%80%9CI am really happy for Steven and pleased that he has had the strength and courage to be able to come out and be open and honest about who he is, and to see that he has the support of his family and team-mates in doing it, like I did. %0D %0D %E2%80%9CI know how hard it is to be honest about something like this when you are in the public eye, and for him to be able to come out and talk about it at his age is refreshing and hopefully like when I came out, will encourage and inspire others to feel they can do the same. I hope that this will be just the start from him.%E2%80%9D %0D %0D Davies admitted he had been partly inspired by Thomas%E2%80%99s bravery in going public about his own sexuality. %0D %0D He said: %E2%80%9CGareth Thomas%E2%80%99s story helped me. It just showed me it can be done. He was brave enough to stand up and say who he was. It was a very courageous thing to do, so if I can help anyone else like he helped me, then that would be great. %0D %0D The world of professional sport remains hugely under-represented in terms of the numbers of openly gay people. %0D %0D But campaigners hope the more who find the courage to come forward, the less of a stigma it will be for those struggling to deal with the issue. %0D %0D While Thomas%E2%80%99s announcement, set against the backdrop of the intensely macho game of rugby, drew widespread admiration, he was coming towards the end of his career. %0D %0D Davies%E2%80%99s decision to go public at such an early stage in his professional life, is seen as hugely significant in breaking down taboos surrounding homosexuality in professional sport. %0D %0D "I hope it's all going to be fine with the fans," Davies added. %0D %0D "If there is any abuse or anything then I don't need to worry about those people giving it out.

by Anonymous

reply 40

05/10/2013

Is he hot? Pic, please.

Sent from my iPhone.

by Anonymous

reply 1

02/27/2011

I know Steven. He's a very nice and has struggled with coming out for years. Good to know he finally did it.

by Anonymous

reply 2

02/27/2011

Pic.

by Anonymous

reply 3

02/27/2011

Can we order him in more attractive and taller? Thanks.

by Anonymous

reply 4

02/27/2011

r4 = obese

by Anonymous

reply 5

02/27/2011

I'll take him if you won't, R4. He's a sexy guy.%0D %0D His bravery is inspiring, and I'm glad that he'll be able to live his life openly now.

by Anonymous

reply 6

02/27/2011

Steven

by Anonymous

reply 7

02/27/2011

Not brave

Not hot

And I'm not obese

But good for him, seriously. I'm sure this is a big thing for cricket loving gay youth everywhere.

Jesus Christ, I didn't realize we're all supposed to be overly-impressed by the same things.

by Anonymous

reply 8

02/27/2011

If he's not brave, then why aren't all the closet case professional athletes, not to mention actors, out of the closet?

by Anonymous

reply 9

02/27/2011

Your mileage may vary on the other things - his attractiveness, your obesity - but it's pretty brave, R8. Play cricket as a gay man with a group of British lugs, and then get back to us.

by Anonymous

reply 10

02/27/2011

[quote]Jesus Christ, I didn't realize we're all supposed to be overly-impressed by the same things.%0D %0D Where did you see that? I can't find where anyone said we're "all supposed to be overly-impressed by the same things." Link please.

by Anonymous

reply 11

02/27/2011

R11, I got raked over the coals for alluding to the fact that I don't think he's very cute. A bitchy comment on my part, but I obviously started World War III over some stupid observation.

He's brave, okay? Sheesh.

by Anonymous

reply 12

02/27/2011

[quote]I got raked over the coals for alluding to the fact that I don't think he's very cute%0D %0D But what does that have to do with "we're all supposed to be overly-impressed by the same things?"

by Anonymous

reply 13

02/27/2011

For the love of God would someone PLEASE SHIT IN MY MOUTH!

by Anonymous

reply 14

02/27/2011

But someone cuter than Steven Davies, please. He probably has a flat pasty ass to boot.

by Anonymous

reply 15

02/27/2011

He's good looking. He probably gets more ass than a toilet seat.

by Anonymous

reply 16

02/27/2011

I think he's cute.

by Anonymous

reply 17

02/27/2011

I always wondered why he would not go out with me. It ALL makes sense now!

by Anonymous

reply 18

02/27/2011

Blackmail probably.

by Anonymous

reply 19

02/28/2011

Why oh why can't he do an interview in his underwear?

by Anonymous

reply 20

02/28/2011

One of his reasons is interesting - he's on tour a lot, and didn't get to enjoy "off-field" activities while on tour. I think he's talking about either hooking up with locals via Manhunt and bars, or having a boyfriend with him while on tour. He's doing it for ass.

by Anonymous

reply 21

02/28/2011

I bet he's had a few sticky wickets, eh? Nudge, nudge. Know what I mean?

by Anonymous

reply 22

02/28/2011

He came out on the day of the Oscars, the Carling Cup final and straight after a very high profile England cricket match with the rest of the World Cup to follow? The World Cup being a competition he probably should have been playing in but they went back to Prior instead. Also he came out in the Telegraph of all places (very right wing). The England team will having a press conference more or less every day so they get all the nice supportive coverage without having to do any specific press.

This has all the hallmarks of the ECB media team running with this. And of course they had their press release out 30 seconds after the story went up. Either they've told him to come out or he has been put under quite a lot of (supportive) pressure to do it. Makes it look like they already knew and that Attitude shoot with Anderson last year was test to see how that was taken.

They've had too many players recently who have fallen apart because of the long tours and personal problems. So this is a big win for the England setup if they can get him happier on tour. Plus their sponsors will really like it. It makes the team look good.

by Anonymous

reply 23

02/28/2011

I think he's cute, too, and more power to him, but cricket could be badminton as far as people in the U.S. are concerned.

by Anonymous

reply 24

02/28/2011

Good for him. Now, hopefully, we'll have a Premier League footballer come out too.

by Anonymous

reply 25

02/28/2011

R23

Didn't he say in the article that he outed himself to the team in australia?

R24

I think nobody outside of the Commonwealth gets this sport actually.

by Anonymous

reply 26

02/28/2011

I love British men!

by Anonymous

reply 27

02/28/2011

Way to go Steve!%0D %0D I don't think that there are even any OUT lesbian cricketers at the international level.

by Anonymous

reply 28

02/28/2011

[quote]He came out on the day of the Oscars, the Carling Cup final and straight after a very high profile England cricket match with the rest of the World Cup to follow? The World Cup being a competition he probably should have been playing in but they went back to Prior instead. Also he came out in the Telegraph of all places (very right wing). The England team will having a press conference more or less every day so they get all the nice supportive coverage without having to do any specific press.

This makes sense. Also, I bet a high percentage of the Telegraph readership watch cricket, even in comparison with the readership of other papers.

by Anonymous

reply 29

02/28/2011

'I think nobody outside of the Commonwealth gets this sport actually.'%0D %0D Italy and Denmark, among other countries, play in the Cricket World Cup, and last I heard they weren't in the Commonwealth. And cricket still gets a bigger world audience than American football and baseball combined, R26. Mind you, it probably does that in India alone.

by Anonymous

reply 30

02/28/2011

Italy and Denmark are not in the cricket world cup r30. But the Netherlands is but the game there is only played by British expats and and Afrikaner immigrants.

by Anonymous

reply 31

03/01/2011

Who's his b/f?

by Anonymous

reply 32

03/01/2011

Cricketer.....hmmmm...I thought they were all gay.

by Anonymous

reply 33

03/01/2011

I think he's hot as hell! He could play with my sticky wicket.

by Anonymous

reply 34

03/01/2011

Cricket is huge on the sbu-contitent. It's the unofficial national game of India, population 1 billion. Unfortunately for that game. Corruption in India and Pakistan has ruined the game forever.

by Anonymous

reply 35

03/01/2011

He's single and available, girls!

by Anonymous

reply 36

03/06/2011

An update on the very handsome Steven Davies.

Recently Steven has had some positive things to say/tweet about the Robbie Rogers and Jason Collins announcements. But there has been some news of his own too.

After publicly coming out 2 years ago, he successfully continued as a cricketer. But last year the death of one of his teammates struck him hard. He became depressed and nearly retired from the sport altogether. Elton John, who had supported him when he first came out and had become a friend, invited him on his Asian winter vacation as a way to clear his head.

The time away helped and Davies is now recommitted to the sport and playing cricket again.

by Anonymous

reply 37

05/10/2013

He avoided our own gay pro-bowler Scott Norton in the USA.

by Anonymous

reply 38

05/10/2013

adorable.

by Anonymous

reply 39

05/10/2013

A very nice photo of Steven relaxing on a boat during his travels with Elton John. Since it was a working trip for Elton (he had some show dates), this seems to be different from the gay-flesh cruise we saw photos of last summer.

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